Friday, June 23, 2006

Zimbabwean Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa went on the offensive in Geneva this week, charging in a United Nations forum that nongovernmental organizations in his country are fronts for foreign powers aiming to destabilize the country.

Chinamasa delivered his scathing attack on NGOs on Wednesday at the inaugural session of the U.N. Human Rights Council, the successor to the UN Commission on Human Rights. Though Zimbabwe sat on that predecessor panel, Chinimasa said it was a tool of developed Western nations seeking regime change in Zimbabwe.

Chinimasa said such countries use the human rights NGO community to channel what he called “dirty money” intended to undermine Third World governments that take an "independent line in international affairs.” The minister called upon the Human Rights Council to prohibit direct funding of local NGO’s operating in the field of human rights and governance, and that all such funding should flow through UN channels.